1. Field of the Invention
The present design relates generally to the art of autostereoscopic displays, and more specifically to enhanced techniques for flat panel monitor devices that improve optical quality, and increase the depth of the image and the number and quality of the viewing zones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's stereoscopic display manufacturers seek to continually improve the image quality associated with the presentation of three-dimensional (3-D) content. One current autostereoscopic flat panel monitor device that exhibits improved image quality uses refractive optic techniques for image selection. Refractive optic designs typically include lenticular screens and Winnek slanted lenses. Another current flat panel monitor design relies on raster barrier techniques for image selection. In both designs, columns of images consisting of stripes made up of perspective views form a repeating pattern on the autostereoscopic display. Refractive optic techniques involve associating each column of images with a cylindrical lenticule. Raster barrier techniques associate each column of images with an aperture slit of a raster barrier.
Autostereoscopic display designs have been the subject of several prior disclosures. Reference is made to the work of, for example, Okoshi in “Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques”, Academic Press, New York, 1976.
An alternate technology currently available for use in flat panel monitor device designs employs a “fly eye lens” technique for image selection. This technique involves a number of related miniature spherical lenses refracting light rays in both the vertical and the horizontal direction.
As noted, refractive optic autostereoscopic display techniques employ parallel rows of cylindrical lenticules, while raster barrier autostereoscopic display techniques employ parallel rows of slits. Both techniques produce a parallax effect only in the horizontal direction, unlike the “fly's eye lens” that produces parallax effects in both the vertical and horizontal directions. Accordingly, the refractive and raster barrier techniques involve horizontal parallax exclusively. Refractive and raster barrier designs can produce images with lower resolution requirements since they selectively use image information in the horizontal direction only, rather than in both the vertical and the horizontal directions.
In practice, designs employing lenticular autostereoscopic screens have drawbacks because they reduce the overall effective display sharpness. In particular, autostereoscopic displays that employ a lenticular screen for image selection tend to have shortcomings with regard to the sharpness of the image having high parallax values. Such shortcomings are particularly apparent with regard to images including objects appearing off the plane of the screen or very deep into the screen. Further issues with lenticular screens can occur when a multiplicity of non-primary viewing zones exist, particularly with respect to the sharpness of those non-primary viewing zones.
In practice, designs employing raster barrier displays reduce the overall display brightness and introduce undesirable visible pattern noise. In fact, raster barrier autostereoscopic screens turn out to be so dim, typically losing 80 or 90 percent of the light when rendering multi-perspective images, that they may not be commercially viable when used with currently available flat panel displays.
Refractive screens employing “fly eye lens” designs have not been deployed into the marketplace to any extent but have been shown experimentally in laboratories. They have low resolution when employed in connection with a flat panel monitor device.
Autostereoscopic displays using either lenticular screen, raster barrier, or “fly eye lens” techniques are difficult to manufacture due to the tight dimensional and alignment tolerances required when used with the underlying flat panel monitor device electronic display.
Based on the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a flat panel display for use in viewing stereoscopic image content that overcomes the foregoing drawbacks present in previously known designs.